Councilors fear Quincy Center parking shortage amid construction

QUINCY – The 730-space garage proposed for Quincy Center would bring a large chunk of new parking to a downtown where it’s in short supply, but what will happen while it’s being built?

That was the question that several city councilors asked during a finance committee meeting Thursday night about the $80 million bond bill that Mayor Thomas Koch has proposed to fund the construction of the garage in the middle of what’s now the Hancock parking lot. The bill would pay for that at a cost of $38 million, as well as infrastructure in and around that block.

At-large Councilor Joseph Finn said he worried that the fact that the Hancock lot parking would temporarily be lost at the same time as heavy construction happens at Quincy’s four MBTA stations and their lots could end up making the need more dire than the administration imagined.

“I really fear we’re going to be clobbered here,” Finn said.

Ward 2 Councilor Brad Croall, who represents some of the residential neighborhoods just east of the downtown area, wanted to know how the administration planned to keep side streets from essentially becoming parking lots.

“I really really need to understand how we are going to mitigate the outpouring of parking in those neighborhoods,” he said.

Bill Geary, who oversees downtown redevelopment for the mayor, said that the administration has plans to deal with that.

“The immediate displacement of vehicles can be absorbed by other lots,” he said. That includes the lots at the site of the former Ross garage, as well as the nearby Quincy District Courthouse parking lots, which are free to anyone after 5 p.m.

The Hancock parking lot is the planned site for significant private development. About 40 percent of the parking spaces would be leased to the projects on either side the garage. Those projects would bring 295 top-of-market apartments and 19,000 square feet of commercial space to the Hancock lot block.

Another notable part of the bill is $6.1 million to extend Cliveden Street in both directions. The state plans to build a bridge that would carry the road over the Red Line tracks and to Burgin Parkway. In the other direction, the city would acquire property in the 1500 block of Hancock Street and knock down those buildings in order to continue the road to the new garage in the middle of the block.

Most of the dozen members of the public who spoke at the start of the meeting voiced support for the garage.

“I’m glad to see the direction the city is going in,” said resident Jay Glynn. “It is imperative to have parking downtown.”

Tim Cahill, the head of the Quincy Chamber of Commerce, threw his organization’s support behind the bill, too.

“We are very much in favor of this project,” he said.

The finance committee will discuss this matter again at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

– Sean Cotter covers Quincy for the Ledger. He may be reached by email at scotter@ledger.com or by phone at 617-786-7049. Like the Ledger page on Facebook to follow more South Shore news.